The present invention relates to a thermal therapy apparatus for performing thermal therapy by inserting an insertion portion into a body cavity or tract such as a blood vessel, digestive tract, urinary tract, abdominal cavity, or thoracic cavity, or by surgically pushing the insertion portion against a vital tissue, and irradiating the vital tissue with energy such as a laser beam, microwave, radiofrequency, or ultrasonic wave.
A thermal therapy apparatus is known which uses a long insertion portion to be inserted into a living body by using a body cavity or performing small incision. This insertion portion irradiates a vital tissue containing a morbid portion with energy such as a laser beam, microwave, radiofrequency, or ultrasonic wave to extinguish this morbid tissue by heating, degeneration, necrosis, coagulation, cauterization, or vaporization, thereby treating the morbid portion.
Generally, this thermal therapy apparatus irradiates a morbid portion in a surface layer or its vicinity of a vital tissue directly with energy. Another technique is also known which irradiates a deep portion of a vital tissue with energy to treat a morbid portion, such as a prostate, positioned deep in the vital tissue.
This thermal therapy apparatus treats, e.g., a prostate following a procedure described below. That is, an operator manually inserts an insertion portion into a urethra to allow an emission portion to reach a prostatic urethra (a urethra surrounded by a prostate), rotates the insertion portion in a desired energy irradiation direction around the urethra to match the direction of the emission portion with the energy irradiation direction, and irradiates the prostate with energy.
An operator generally performs the above series of operations while observing the urethra with an endoscope. Also, some thermal therapy apparatuses perform irradiation of energy not only in one direction but in a plurality of directions. In this case, an operator repeats the series of operations described above in each of these directions.
In the thermal therapy apparatus described above, an operator manually rotates the insertion portion in the energy irradiation direction around a urethra to match the direction of the emission portion with the irradiation direction. Hence, the operator cannot easily confirm the direction of the emission portion. This makes it difficult to match the direction of the emission portion with a desired energy irradiation direction, imposing a severe burden on the operator.
Also, during therapy a patient sometimes moves by reflex owing to, e.g., a feeling of physical discomfort, a feeling of burning, or a pain, and this may deviate the irradiation position or irradiation direction of an insertion portion of a medical energy irradiation apparatus. In some cases, an operator may be unaware of this deviation. As a consequence, no satisfactory effect of treating a morbid portion may be obtained, or a portion other than the target portion may be irradiated with energy.
Furthermore, when the operator notices the deviation of the position or direction of the insertion portion and wants to again match the direction of the emission portion with the desired energy irradiation direction, the direction of the emission portion may not be matched with the previously matched direction. Consequently, no satisfactory effect of treating a morbid portion may be obtained.
In a thermal therapy apparatus which performs irradiation of energy not only in one direction but also in a plurality of directions, the operation becomes cumbersome. Therefore, in irradiation of energy in one desired direction, the direction of an emission portion may be matched in a direction in which energy already irradiates.
Consequently, energy may irradiate more than needed in the same direction.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above conventional problems, and has as its first object to provide a thermal therapy apparatus capable of readily matching the irradiation direction of energy with a desired direction by detecting the energy irradiation direction.
It is second object of the present invention to provide a thermal therapy apparatus which prevents energy irradiation to a portion other than a target portion by automatically interrupting or controlling thermal therapy even when the irradiation direction of energy deviates owing to the movement of a patient during the thermal therapy.
According to the present invention, the above object is attained by providing a thermal therapy apparatus for performing a medical treatment by irradiation of energy into a living body comprises energy generating means for generating the energy, a long insertion portion which can be inserted into the living body, an emission portion formed in the insertion portion to perform lateral irradiation of the energy with respect to a longitudinal direction of the insertion potion, direction detecting means for detecting an irradiation direction of the energy in the insertion portion, confirming means for notifying an operator of information about the detection by the direction detecting means, and control means for controlling said irradiation of the energy on the basis of the information about the detection by the direction detecting means. Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.